Scott Davis Los Angeles Raiders The Oakland Raiders together with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority recently had a meeting of the minds agreeing to a one-year extension last month that also keeps the relationship in somewhat of a truce/ holding pattern for a time. The deal includes an additional two years of Raider options to remain using the stadium after the 2016 season.The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority gave final approval of the lease agreement at a meeting this past Friday. the contract is now scheduled to make its way over to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and Oakland City Council for their grand blaessing.According to one Scott McKibben, the executive director of the Coliseum authority, the substantial rent increase is to cover things such as increased costs for game day security and other factors. What factors you might wonder? Who knows.He continued to provide additional insights like "We're more or less trying to pass along some of these (costs) to the Raiders which is not unlike any other NFL team. McKibben continues in his "detailed explanation"... “I spent a lot of time visiting with a lot of other NFL teams and this has been customary throughout the league. And quite honestly at the end of the day the Raiders were very cooperative with us on that."

Well the bottom line is that if the Raiders have been “quite cooperative” then it’s difficult to question the deal. but we havent heard from the Raiders organization yet so well see.So although some NFL team moves seem to be moving along- to an extent- there is still a sense that all is floating around in cloud of uncertainty. To date the St. Louis Ramswere given the official go ahead in January by the National Football League to make their long reported eforts to move to the Los Angeles market a reality. Additionally the San Diego Chargers also have a santioned option approved by the NFL to join the Rams L.A. in a new stadium to be completed several years from now in Inglewood, California. The Oakland Raiders remain in a the perverbial holding pattern for now but will most likely continue their quest to find a new home beyond the 2016 season but for some reason must wait until after the San Diego Chargers make up their minds for sure about whether not they will accept to share a new Los Angeles home field with the Rams.So for now the Oakland Raiders chiefMark Davis will go on to again contemplate his team’s future status in the context of moving to another city. One scenario being explored and loosely thrown around in the media is a stadium in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Sands Corp. apparently put forth a proposal for a $1 billion domed stadium project relatively close to UNLV- located between the Vegas airport and the Vegas Strip. Mark Davis got together with Sands chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson regarding the matter this past January. for now we wait but there is certainly more to come....

An recent NFL statement forwarded to all NFL clubs states there is no single rule referencing any restriction that any NFL team can seek moving to a new city. This memo released to all teams comes in the midst of the Oakland Raider's owner Mark Davis recently visiting Las Vegas. to add to the further speculation of all things on the table, the San Diego Chargers announced recently that the organization is not going to relocating to Los Angeles for the 2016 season. no surprise there since there is no stadium built yet based on all the talk concerning myriad teams interested in and or moving to the LA market.

In Vegas The Sands Corp. runs the Venetian and Palazzo as well as operating several other casinos in Macau, Singapore and Pennsylvania. In other words, the league would prefer that talk of a team in Vegas is kept quiet. But it's obvious the league will take a look at the possibility of teams seeking to relocate to location such as Las Vegas as seriously and diligently as they would a move to any other city being seriously considered by an NLF franchise. Mark Ganis feels the NHL will undoubtedly be the initial major sports league to make Vegas home . But, again, because of the "spectre" of legal gambling in Vegas, I'm not entirely sure how serious any of those overtures may have been. However, Oakland is far, far away from putting down a new stadium for them.

Las Vegas seems to be the go to leverage tool for teams seeking new venues to call home. the most recent hoopla concerning several teams vying for the LA market has seen the Vegas option rise again to the surface as an option. one apparently the NFL is not necessarily fond of.

Money and profit, no big surprise, are strong carrots for NFL teams and therefore the potential revenues from stadium luxury boxes would make Las Vegas an lucrative market for the Raiders' owners Mark Davis. it should be noted that those types of revenues would not be included in the mix of the league's extensive revenue sharing.

Mark Davis also spent recent time visiting the build site of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson's proposed 65,000-seat stadium on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas college campus. In consideration of a Vegas move the Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported that Adelson has requested $780 million in public funds for his proposed stadium.

The NFL's Raiders have committed to be in Oakland for the 2016 season having recently considered relocating back to Los Angeles. The St Louis Rams however won tenancy of a proposed new stadium. Should the San Diego Chargers elect not to move to Los Angeles, the Oakland Raiders would then be next in line to have the option to relocate to LA.But in the event the Chargers uproot and shuffle off to Los Angeles, the Oakland Raiders could then conceivable give San Diego a solid look as a possibility for their new home.Once the relocation drama concerning the Chargers and the Raiders is complete the next big move for the League could very well be an expansion into the overseas markets. Moving to locations such as the London market are considered inevitable.

in order for a NFL franchise to relocate anywhere they must first receive 75% support from the 32 club owners. to date there has been no publicly reported scenario where a NFL club has official sought all club owners for a vote to relocate to Las Vegas.In the meantime the San Diego Chargers now have until January 15, 2017 to make a final decision on the move to Los Angeles.

Mark Ganis, who has assembled various financing for numerous NFL stadium projects, stated that the League has not historically embraced the idea of a team in Las Vegas due that fact that Vegas promotes and supports open sports gambling. Its no secret the NFL track record shows little support for ever approving a team in Vegas. this coming from a league that is "against gambling". Its not rare for anyone following the NFL to comment openly about the hypocrisy running loose in the halls of the "high brow" NFL.

​"Nothing will move that needle like a new world-class stadium", according to one source. Just follow the Money as the old saying goes.

The Oakland Raiders as well as the Jacksonville Jaguars are the 2 National football League's organizations that are beneath the 89% cash spending threshold required by next March of 2017 this basically means they are significantly below the minimum.NFLPA ED, DeMaurice Smith made it clear that the Oakland Raiders are a full $41 million under the required spending limit they must be at come spring 2017. The Jacksonville Jaguars, as well, are currently a full $28 million shy of the collectively bargained requirements.Oakland Raiders were limited on their spending prior to this season because of existing contracts relating to former players which subsiquently created "dead money" on the Raider payroll. The Raiders to be sure arent losing sleep ove rthe issue. They should easily reach the minimum simply by restructuing contracts for QB Derek Carr and LB/ DE Khalil Mack.Jacksonville has made strategic decisions to ensure for 2016 and '17 are bigger spending years as the continue to work on building a strong foundation based on the draft.As recently as a month ago Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell stated: "The philosophy is you've got to look, at least for us, not this year but next year. We have some very key guys on our team that are going to be free agents or going to be in their third year and able to redo their contracts". "You have to judge, 'How much of it can we spend this year to get us where we need to be to win championships? But how much can we do it so we can retain the guys and get them into deals that we can be good for a long period of time?'"the same Demaurice Smith went on to wax on the future while attending the Player union's yearly Super Bowl news conference claiming that the salary cap is continuing to grow including again this coming year. according to Smith total spending by teams with regard to the players, including benefits, will climb to aproximately $200 million per each NFL franchise. that includes the notion that nearly $40 million may be designated toward player benefits.Executive committee member Matt Hasselbeck- husband of wife and Fox News co-host Elisibeth Hasselback- stressed that todays NFL players are more forthcoming with regard to share injury information with medical personnel."When I got in the league, it was a no-no to be honest with the medical professional on the sideline," said Indianapolis Colts Hasselbeck, He has recently finished his 17th season as an NFL player and recalls days when "You were thought of as a wimp" for sharing too much information concering personal injuries."We've learned as players it's our job, everybody's job, to take ownership of the culture of the locker room. We have to educate younger guys, and sometimes older guys [such as coaches]. Be honest with your medical personnel. Whatever we fight for, it trickles down."NFL Players Association President Eric Winston, who is currently an offensive tackle with the Cincinati Bengals, was pressed about rumored complaints from certain coaching staffs that there just isn't enough practice time these days to prepare players to the extent necessary. He scoffed at the idea, calling it "a cop-out.""If you can't teach a young guy in 30 minutes because you only have 20 minutes, then you have to change your teaching skills," said Winston, who is a nine-year NFL veteran."For some reason the onus has been put on the players to learn something rapidly instead of the teacher to teach something differently. You see some teams have rookies who play well year in and year out and there's something to that. They're probably being taught in a different way."Scott Davis http://www.nfl.com/player/scottdavis/2512631/profileforward top articles of the day

Heading into the 2015 season, Roy Helu was playing so well for the Oakland Raiders the team released Trent Richardson, an unfortunate dissapointment, as a result. They opted to go with Latavius Murray and Helu as their running back rotation in hopes of revamping the run game. seems the powers that be knew what they were doing...to an extent. Part of that worked out as Murray enjoyed a breakout season as the leading rusher while Helu drifted into the shadows. Now with the free agent market stacked with talent at the running back position, will Helu be a one-and-done in Oakland?

Helu comes with a $2 million cap hit in 2016. That is certainly an easy salary to manage considering the amount of cap space the Oakland Raiders are preparing to have. However, the running back did not impress in his first season with the team, putting up a total of 39 yards on the ground and 75 yards through the air as playing time began to disappear. In the moment, Helu's struggles were overlooked since Murray was putting up career-high numbers, but as the Raiders look to continue the improvement they need an upgrade over the running back.According to another news source, Helu risks getting released if the Oakland Raiders can get an upgrade in the coming free agency. The team has been linked to a number of veteran players heading into the offseason. Marshawn Lynch, Matt Forte and Arian Foster have all been listed as options for the team to look at as they would replace Helu on the depth chart. one news source noted that the Raiders could target a veteran at the position who would benefit from splitting carries with Murray. Heading into 2016, Murray has most certainly secured his spot as the teams starting running back going into next season and now the Raiders simply need to find a solid well balanced compliment for him."I have to continue to do the things I need to do so I'm producing, I'm playing my best," Murray said, via the Raider team website. "To be honest, because like I said, I felt that I left so much out there. To me, it didn't feel like a 1,000-yard season. There were games where there was absolutely nothing. For me, I just know I want to get better. I know that if I can move it 1,000 yards with that kind of season, then there's a lot more out there for me."Recently NFL teams are getting away from the traditional workhorse running back and favoring a rotation. The Oakland Raiders did not have that in 2015 and while Murray tried to help make up for it, he was not enough. Now the team has a chance to get a good veteran in the mix to push the offense into a better direction next season.

​Debt has a funny way of hanging around a lot longer than most would like. At least that may be the case for the Oakland Raiders trying to get a proposal together to move the team to the LA market.

Keeping that in mind NFL owners will today again attempt to solve once and for all the hot and pressing topic of which one or two NFL franchises will be making the move to the Los Angeles. This time there is a bit more relevant information for league owners to chew on in that the Commissioner Roger Goodell has issued a 48-page report which, as reported, has declared the existing stadiums Oakland, St. Louis and San Diego “inadequate”.

Two days of meetings in Houston start today, now a full six weeks beyond when owners delayed a previous vote based on the reasoning they wanted additional information relevant to the Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers. At this point it is highly likely such a momentous move will involve one or two of the three teams vying to make the move to the LA market.

All three NFL organizations have plead their case to the NFL with each team recently submitting a proposed plan essentially extolling their respective rationales for such a move.

Goodell’s latest report- dispersed to all 32 teams- states in no uncertain terms that all three teams positioning for the right to move have current home town stadiums that are “inadequate and unsatisfactory,” The report goes on to include that that the proposals the Raiders, Rams and Chargers received, from their respective cities to remain put, lacked certainty. The report is relevant and is a requirement as part of this process wherein a team, or in this case teams, are seeking to move to a new place or market.

Stan Kroenke, current owner of the Rams and the league’s second wealthiest owner has put together a $1.8 billion stadium plan to be erected in the town of Inglewood, Calif., which happens to be the same piece of land that was once home to the former Hollywood Park racetrack. Carson California is the designated and most desirable place, deemed by the Raiders and Chargers, to build a new and shared NFL stadium. At the same time Kroenke has also proclaimed he is not opposed to sharing his Inglewood stadium, if built, with either the Chargers or Raiders.

There are 32 NFL team owners and in this case any plans must be approved by 24 of the league owners before any such move can take place.

It appears based on other NFL owner input that this whole process is not a walk in the park. According to Steve Tisch- co-owner of the Giants- “It’s a long, tedious process.” Not surprisingly he went on the record continuing to say that “There’s a lot of questions and there are not answers to every question yet. And there will be more questions when we meet in mid-January for sure.”

In addition to the move to LA, Kroenke has pitched another plan which keeps the Rams in the Midwest with an open-air, $1.1 billion stadium set along the picturesque Mississippi River north of the Gateway Arch. It would be a complete replacement for the current Edward Jones Dome which is one of the stadiums deemed inadequate by the Goodell 48-page report.

Funds and financing include numbers somewhere in the ballpark of $150 million from St. Louis city coffers, $250 million from Kroenke himeself, a minimum of $200 million from the NFL, and a proposed $160 million in fan seat licenses. Then theres the rest of the funds that would surely be necessary coming in the form of state provided tax credits or bonds. To add to the aforemention “complexities” of such a deal, Goodell has issued a counter offer to the Kroenke proposal clearly stating that NFL has an existing policy that restricts the league’s contribution to $100 million max. Who knows if that number could be altered or a policy change enacted to accommodate getting a good deal done for all parties involved.

In San Diego the Chargers have put forward a a $1.1 billion new stadium proposal to replace the faltering Qualcomm Stadium. That deal gets a bit murky due to the fact that there has been little success with that proposal to date. On top of the lack of progress with the city, if some deal were to get enough approval to move forward it would require a public vote that won't likely come to fruition until June of 2016. The fct is that the Chargers have moved on form those stalled negotiations with the city and have put the majority of their time and effort into a move to Carson California. The relationship with the city of San Diego has continued to sour as Houston Texans owner Bob McNair, a member of the relocation committee, simply canceled a meeting with San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer this past December, and made his feeling known as he shared unfavorable remarks publically about the absence of city leadership.

Oakland continues to be underwater and carrying debt from an Oakland Stadium renovation some 20 years ago completed upon the Raiders return to Oakland from Los Angeles. It’s common knowledge for anyone following their ongoing attempts to once again leave Oakland that the City officials there have repeatedly stated they will not seek help from taxpayers with a new stadium. Although the city has asked the NFL for more time to put together a proposal in the form acceptable as a league-required response to the Raiders’ relocation plan. It seems as though City of Oakland has a bit of leverage since they are clearly aware the Raiders have debt to contend acting as a potential and considerable obstacle to moving. At the same time the City has been made aware, based on the recent Goodell report, that the existing stadium is not meeting NFL standards and therefore providing the Raiders with a small bit of leverage of their own.